Post navigation

Jump 75, Swansea

Its friday afternoon, I have no kids this weekend, and the suns out, it can only mean one thing. Yep, im on my way to the dropzone 😀

I arrive a good hour before the manifest has opened, and after a while, my names down for the first lift. This is going to be for fun, then from lift 3 onwards, i have spoken to an FS coach and will be doing my first coached jump towards my FS1.

All geared up, and on the plane, and im going to be the first one out, so the plan is some good tracking, some backflips and have some fun.

during the climb, im sat right opposite the door, the coldest part of the plane, and at about 10,000 feet, im now freezing, and wishing id put on a few extra layers, and my thicker gloves, but we are soon at jumping height, the red light is on, the door opens, and i forget all about being cold. Im also looking out of the door at the floor, when the green light comes on. Im given the thumbs up, and i roll out of the door, i open up stable, and track away from the plane for a good 20 seconds before slowing and turning onto my back for a few seconds. Flip back over, do 2 sideways failed backflips, before leveling out and turning into the wind, and waving off and throwing my pilot chute at just under 4000 feet.

Im now so used to the way the canopy opens, that seeing it half inflated is normal, i reach up, grab the toggles and 2 full pumps and the canopy is fully open. The landing area is pretty much directly in front of me, so itll be into the wind all the way back, i pull down on the front risers, which gets me over the runway so the landing area is behind me, and at 900 feet, i start to turn, and WOOSH!!! the wind takes me so fast that the cross has passed me before ive managed a full 180 degree turn, so i instantly start to turn back. By the time im back facing the landing area, im just under 700 feet, so i hang on the front risers a little bit to try and get firther forward, im still going to land within the landing area, i just want to be closer to the path, and at about 100 feet i leave the risers go. im going to land about 10 feet from the pathway 🙂

Just as i come in to land, i flare, and get taken sideways by the wind. I land standing up, hopping to the left and trying to collapse the canopy at the same time.

Something tells me that when i get back to the manifest, theres going to be some sort of ‘wind limit’ in place…